Virginia Madsen biography

Born and raised in Chicago, Virginia Madsen's first screen acting job was a small role in the feature film Class (1983), starring Rob Lowe and filmed in her hometown. She was just 19 at the time and soon after, moved to Hollywood with her boyfriend, actor Bill Campbell. She worked steadily, landing jobs in films such as Electric Dreams (1984), Dune (1984) and Creator (1985).

Despite being the sister of acclaimed actor Michael Madsen and the daughter of Emmy-winning writer and producer Elaine Madsen, and despite the fact that Virginia spent years acting in motion pictures, she didn't become well known to mainstream audiences until 2002 after landing the regular role of Rebecca Sandstrom in the NBC-TV series American Dreams.

Her performance as Maya in the independent film Sideways (2004) also garnered her much acclaim, winning Best Supporting Actress awards from numerous Film Critics Associations, including Chicago, Dallas-Forth Worth, Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco, Seattle and Toronto, not to mention nominations from the Golden Globes and Academy Awards.

Madsen, who in 1994 gave birth to a son named Jack from a relationship with actor Antonio Sabato Jr., was married for three years to actor/director Danny Huston before divorcing.